


Vampirism

by UberNerd



Category: Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, WALL-E (2008)
Genre: Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Energy Vampire, F/M, Robots, robot love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2017-02-28
Packaged: 2018-07-29 09:17:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7678864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UberNerd/pseuds/UberNerd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Two takes critical damage, Nos-4-a2 has to turn her into an Energy Vampire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Two was very cold.

She couldn’t remember what happened, only aware that it was raining (or was it snowing?), and that she couldn’t control her systems. Visual Receptors: OFFLINE. Auditory Receivers: FAULTY. Speaker System: ERROR. The only things that were still working were her artificial nerve endings, letting her feel the harsh burn of sub-zero temperatures.

She kept phasing in and out of activation.

...

It was getting colder, if that was even possible. Her body was almost completely numb save for the tormenting cold.

......

The thought faintly occurred to Two that this may be her final resting place.

.........

It was hard to stay awake. Maybe she wasn’t awake.

............

Just as she began to slip into the final phase of sleep mode, a sound piqued her fading attention. Was it a voice, or the wind?

_“Eve... are you alright?”_

That was certainly a voice...

_“No, Eve, what’s happened to you?”_

Even more, she knew that voice.

Nos-4-a2.

_“Can you hear me? Please... don’t do this.”_

Two attempted directing all of the energy she had left to her speakers, desperate to call out for help, “N... Nos...” It was faint, but she managed. Two wasn’t sure if she made any noise or not. Something touched her side, uncomfortably hot.

_“It’s okay, I-I have you, Eve... just hold on... please, hang in there a little longer... I’ve got you now...”_

She was lifted from the biting cold into shocking warmth; suddenly feeling at peace. Maybe she was finally dying. Two relaxed in the comfortable embrace, slipping out of consciousness.

~~~

Heat radiated from everything around Two as her sensors started to come back online. Everything was warm, it seemed, except for her. She was resting on a soft surface, but her tactile sensors weren’t working quite right. Everything was shrouded in layers of warnings and alarms, but the fact that she was alive was a pleasant enough surprise for her to tone them all down. She didn’t need them to know that everything hurt.

The surface seemed to sway beneath her, drawing a low, agitated tone from her speakers.

“Eve? Are you waking up?” a voice inquired. It sounded muffled and distant, but with the precise touch of a familiar talon against the side of her face, it all cleared up a bit. “Can you look at me?”

Two’s eyeforms slitted open, but the image wouldn’t clear. Half of her visor was shattered, leaving patches of black, and the rest struggled to resolve into a better resolution. She dismissed more warnings to try to clear her sight and was able to discern angles of soothing blue and purple, points of vivid red and gold. She relaxed a little.

“Nos-4-a2?” her vocal processors rasped.

“Shh, easy, I’m right here. It’s going to be okay...” his voice reached her auditory receptors through a fizz of static. “Do you remember anything?”

Two blinked, but it didn’t do much to focus the half of her visor that she could see out of. Her processors lagged and faltered, but she tried to collect her thoughts. “I... I was at a high altitude, and the blizzard set in... then... I think... _ow_...”

“Shhh, nevermind, I’m sorry. We’re in our hotel room, I’ve called the local robotics lab. They sent an emergency vehicle out, but it won’t be here for a while because of the storm,” he informed her, carefully stroking the top of her head. She shuddered. Every so often, her tactile sensors cut out, giving her only flashes of sensation.

“Nos... s-something’s _really_ wrong, isn’t it?”

His expression didn’t change as far as she could tell. It took him a while to give a short nod.

Two reopened some of her warnings and alarms. She had been expecting most of what the critical damage reports said, considering... whatever had happened. Apparently, she had taken two major blows: one to her head and the other to her lower back. Something had been dented in her head, which explained why none of her senses could pull together; one of her thrusters had been knocked loose; and her primary battery had been breached.

_Breached?_

Two felt her visor start to sting. She struggled to lift her head.

“No, darling, don’t ‒ ” Nos cradled her head to ease it back down, but she had already seen it: dark fluid soaking up through the sheets Nos had crudely tied around her middle. Her vision started to blot out. Whatever had happened, it had punctured her side and destroyed her main battery, which meant that she was running on the slow-release backup. Dread seeped through every wire in her body when a diagnostic revealed that her auxiliary power was running on empty. Even if she were in hibernation mode, her memory ‒ her soul ‒ would be wiped within the hour.

“Nos, how long until the ambulance gets here?” Despite her efforts, her vocal processor wavered.

He quailed at the feeling of devastation rolling from her processors. “About a half-hour.”

“Nos, I-I can’t make it... my battery, it’s not going to... Nos-4-a2, I’m scared!”

“Calm down!” Nos took both of her hands in his, “There’s something I can do, but it’s... extreme.”

“W-what is it?” 

“I can turn you, but, Eve, it’ll be hell. You won’t die, but... with the repairs you need anyway, it’s going to be brutal,” Nos-4-a2 murmured.

Two didn’t know how to respond. They had talked about it since their honeymoon... about Nos-4-a2 turning her into an Energy Vampire like himself. But that was it. They’d just talked.

“It’s our only option, isn’t it?”

“...The only one I can think of.”

She squeezed his hand. He was trembling. “Okay.”

His free-form optic narrowed, his mouth drawing into a tight line. He wasn’t sure if he was ready. There wasn’t any time to talk, to prepare her, to warn her, to apologize... she was fading. Her eyeforms were dull, half-shattered, interrupted by blue static. She was in pain. Still holding her hands, he leaned down to kiss her, savoring the low-power sweetness of her spark. “I’m sorry, Eve. You’re going to be okay. I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she whispered.

He scooped her up from the the bed, holding her in his lap with one hand on her base and the other caressing the back of her head port. She could see lines of concern drawn deeply around his optic.

His fangs ached as he positioned them over her collar. How long had it been since he’d bitten another robot? He put the thought out of his mind as his fangs whirled into action and drilled through her casing. Her hands dug into his cloak as he broke through the protective coating of a thick wire, reaching an informational pathway. He released a virus into her programming to numb the artificial nerve endings around the bite.

Two sighed, her hands relaxing. She rolled her head onto his shoulder.

Nos-4-a2 closed his optic, hugged her a little closer, and let his protocol take over.

She didn’t feel his fangs dig deeper into her metal, but she could detect the slow decrease of already low energy from her systems. He emitted a low groan and shuddered, sucking against her metal. A comfortable, light-headed feeling took over her body. She grew limp in his arms as the pain and warnings faded away. She let her full weight rest in his arms, her capacity for thought slipped into dim awareness. Her eyeforms became heavy, hardly able to stay open, and a thick heat started to flow through her wires, seeping into her deepest systems.

“ _Nos_...” she groaned. The cold within her body slowly ebbed away as Nos-4-a2’s heat increased.

Now, instead of losing power, her energy seemed to increase. The venom burned steadily hotter and hotter. Even so, Nos-4-a2 kept his fangs buried in her metal.

“Nos-4-a2, that’s really getting hot,” she muttered, tugging on his cape.

Nos bit down harder, more heat pouring into her wires.

“Nos-4-a2! Can you hear me?” Two gasped. He tightened his grip on her body.

“ _Ah_! Stop!” she tried to tuck her head into its port, pushing at his chest in vain. Nos-4-a2 growled, forcing her head back. His strength was too much; all she could do was try to struggle.

“Ow! Nos! What’s happening?!” Two cried.

The power spike diminished, all of her new energy draining faster than she had gained it.

“No! Stop it, what’s happening?!” her writhing became weaker and the world seemed to spin, everything becoming a blur of color fading to black.

_“No... Nos... s... stop...”_


	2. Chapter 2

When Nos-4-a2 came online, he was flat on the floor. His limbs felt heavy and his mind slowly dragged itself to run automatic diagnostics. What a headache.

How long had he been down? What had happened? He opened his optic, the dust ruffle of the hotel bed coming into focus a few feet in front of his face. Finally, the diagnostics revealed he had crashed due to overheating while in a feral state. It didn’t take long after that for him to remember what had happened.

They were vacationing in the northern colony of Borton to see the first white snow in centuries. They had been at the hotel for two days and Two went to the store He had stayed back to set up the room ‒ that’s right, he’d planned on surprising her with a romantic night when she returned. But a storm blew in that wasn’t supposed to hit until later that night, and the minutes turned into hours. The store wasn’t that far away, so Nos put on his thickest cloak and set out, stretching his sensors out as far as he could to find Two. He stayed low and pushed through the wind, paying more attention to his sensors than his sight. He found Two a few blocks down the road, half-buried in snow at the foot of a tree. Everything after that happened so fast... he called the police, she woke up, he turned her...

 _Eve!_ Nos-4-a2 sat bolt upright, though his motors resisted and the world spun. He pushed through it and staggered upright, turning to his wife. Two’s arms and head had sealed against her body, making her a smooth pod. She hovering at an awkward angle because of her faulty thruster. The sheet he’d tied around her was still pinned under her arms, though her battery fluid had started dripping onto the carpet.

Nos took her in his arms ‒ the way she hovered in hibernation mode unsettled him. Cradling her to his chest, he sat down in the armchair he’d pulled up to the side of the bed when he first brought her inside, focusing on the flow of electricity within her systems. He dug into the status of different programs and files, confirming that the venom virus was at work and had put her into a state of high power efficiency.

He let his head fall against the back of the armchair when he was certain that she was alright. The pressure in his head was tremendous, but that only made sense. “I can’t believe I went feral...” he hissed to himself, running his hand over his face.

He looked at the creased metal around the bite mark and the thin scratches all over her body, tentatively pressing a hand to her side. She was still very warm.

“What a mess,” he whispered. He knew turning Two would be dangerous, but he hadn’t even considered going feral. The thought of causing her pain made him sick, so he hugged her closer, burying his head against hers, willing the ambulance to come faster.

How would he break it to the Earthclasses? How would he explain this to the emergency response engineers? Would they blame him for her damage? What if they didn’t treat her right? What if she wasn’t the same when she woke up? What if he made the wrong decision? What if this killed her?

“No,” he uttered. He wasn’t doing himself any good by thinking that way.

“Everything’s going to be fine, right, Eve? You’re the strongest robot I’ve ever known. You’ve been through worse than this... some of it was even my fault. I’m sorry.”

He kept talking to her to keep himself sane, crooning until the distant sound of a siren came muffled through the wind and snow.


	3. Chapter 3

The snow came down so thick that the ambulance’s lights barely reached the hotel from the parking lot. The siren, however, was more than capable of cutting through the storm, successfully attracting the attention of many curious hotel guests. The emergency response engineers, one a former steward and the other a human, cut through the growing crowd with their hovering gurney and made their way to Nos-4-a2 and Eve Two’s hotel room. They found Nos in a daze, still holding his Eve. The Energy Vampire wasn’t working at full capacity, processors scrambled after having his protocols override his free will. It took a bit of persuasion to convince him to let Two go. Once he did, the SECUR-T used his containment beam to lean her back onto the gurney, activating the restraining beams to keep her in place.

“Please come with us, sir. We can start treating both of you in the ambulance, then you can tell us what happened,” the human engineer coaxed. No longer clinging to Two, Nos took a moment to look at both of the engineers: the SECUR-T’s lights were red, the screen on his front bearing a white Rod of Asclepius on a dark blue background. The human had a matching symbol on the breast of her uniform, wearing her black hair in a tight bun to keep it out of her dark, almond-shaped eyes.

Nos wanted to say that he didn’t need any treatment, but he stopped himself when he saw the people peering in from across the hall. He decided it would be best to save any conversation for privacy. The SECUR-T turned his lights on and hovered out before the gurney, clearing a path through the inquisitive guests, the human staying back to walk with Nos. He toned his sensors down to ignore the robotic onlookers, but it didn’t do much to ease his mind. He wanted to keep talking to Two ‒ he had to stop himself a few times, not wanting to give the engineers any more reasons to worry about him. Still, he must have looked unstable, for the woman took his elbow to guide him from the front door of the hotel to the ambulance.

The snow whirled into flame around the SECUR-T’s and ambulance’s lights as the gurney hovered into the middle of the vehicle and fastened itself to the floor. The SECUR-T went in next, going straight to a niche in the corner. The human helped Nos sit on a narrow metal bench against the wall of the truck before she hopped in and pulled the doors shut. The ambulance started moving, and the woman went to work right away. Nos watched her fit Two with a restraining boot before she started attaching wires and sensors to specific places all over her frame, taking readings, making assessments, and giving her power. He reached out to grip the railing on the side of the gurney, willing Two to know that he was there, he was going to stay with her, he would make sure that everything was alright.

“Excuse me, sir?”

Nos looked over at the SECUR-T bot. The little camera below his row of lights was trained on Nos’s optics.

“My name is Hermes. Angelina is taking care of Two ‒ we’re going to do everything we can to make sure you’re both fully repaired and restored, so you can relax now. We’ll be reaching the Wesley North Robotics Center in half an hour, and we have all the equipment necessary to keep her condition stable until then.” Hermes’s voice was smooth and rehearsed. Angelina kept focused on her task, opening several screens, but a reassuring smile flitted over her countenance.

“...Thank you. I’m Nos-4-a2,” he uttered.

“Do you think you can tell us a little more about what happened?” Hermes prompted.

“Yes, but... it’s complicated. I wasn’t there when she crashed. I found her unconscious in the snow, so I took her inside and called right away. She woke up and I tried to ask her what happened, but all she said was something about altitude – I think she must have been high up when the storm hit. She wasn’t working right, her battery was punctured – ” Nos pointed to the soaked sheet around Two’s middle “ – she told me her auxiliary power was failing.”

“Hermes,” Angelina interrupted, “we’re getting some really strange readings here.”

“Yes,” Nos whispered. His vision started spotting. “I didn’t have a choice...”

“A choice, Nos-4-a2?”

“No, she was so scared, I thought I might lose her any minute, I couldn’t just let her go like that, I had to do something, even if it might not work, no matter how much it’s going to hurt her if it does work...”

“Sir, please, calm down. Can you tell us what you did?”

“I’m not sure how,” the lines around Nos’s optics drew deeper, “It’s never been done before, it wasn’t ever supposed to work this way, but I had to do something – ”

“Please, if you don’t explain it to us, we won’t be able to help her. Can you tell us what you did?” Hermes kept his tone perfectly level.

“I’m sorry, this... it’s such a long story, I just don’t have it in me... you’ll have to contact my primary engineer,” Nos shook his head.

“I’ll thank you for their contact information, but if we can’t reach them, we’ll need you to tell us yourself. Is there anything we can do to make you more comfortable? If you’ve suffered trauma, we will be able to treat you more thoroughly once we’ve reached the Center.”

“Yes... I’d appreciate a spare power cell, if you have one. Any kind, any kind... And my engineer is Dr. Darickson of the Axiom Robotics Laboratory.”

“Actually... I think I’ve heard of him,” Angelina looked up from one of the monitors, “Isn’t he a researching xenoroboticist? I didn’t think any of them worked on Earth.”

Nos-4-a2 nodded, taking the battery that Hermes offered with his suspension beam. “‘Xeno-’ is right, but he has a penchant for fixating on projects and not letting go. I’m staying on Earth ‒ so is he,” Nos grumbled before sinking his fangs into the casing.

Angelina’s eyes darted from the Energy Vampire’s meal to the clean holes drilled just below Two’s head. “Right, I’ll send word ahead to the lab... we’re definitely going to need a specialist.”


	4. Chapter 4

To Nos-4-a2’s immense relief, the robotics center had no problem reaching Dr. Darickson. It wasn’t long before the engineers at the hospital relayed his message back to the ambulance, letting them know that Dr. Darickson would make his way up north as soon as the storm subsided. The doctor had directed the local engineers to keep Two in stasis and put her in submersive nanobot treatment until he arrived.

Though Darickson and Nos-4-a2 were nowhere near prepared to fully turn a robot, they had brainstormed a procedure to make turning easier. Their goal was to find a way to make it a practical, long-term change ‒ originally, turning was meant to make a powerful, temporary slave. Often times, the venom virus would waste its host, but Nos had already gone a long way in editing it to sustain a permanent transformation. Even though he still felt drained, Nos sank his mind into checking through the venom coding, making note of any potential problems.

Of course, it would be easiest to identify the problems once Two was brought online, but that couldn’t happen until the storm passed and Dr. Darickson arrived, another twelve hours at least. In Nos’s mind, that was a long time for something to go wrong. As of now, her last memory would be of him in his feral state ‒ he couldn’t remember what happened, and no part of him was ready to check his memory footage. She had to wake up. If he hurt her, she had to know he didn’t mean to.

“Nos-4-a2, we’re about to reach the lab. You’ve been cleared to stay with Two during her treatment, so follow us closely,” Hermes instructed.

Nos nodded. Another relief. While being with Two for her own safety was his top priority, focusing on her also gave him an excuse not to engage any prying looks the staff might give him. Curiosity usually didn’t bother Nos ‒ Earth’s alien population was small, with an even smaller portion of alien robots, so he couldn’t really blame them. But in his current state of mind, the last thing he wanted to do was answer to intrusive engineers.

The ambulance came to a stop. Angelina disconnected Two and deactivated the reading screens while Hermes disengaged the locks that held the hovering gurney to the floor. The back doors flew open with a gust of sleety wind, all the ice in the air stricken to life by the hospital’s flood lights. Hermes and Angelina led the way inside, Nos following, his hand on the rail of Two’s cot.

The corridor they entered was dimly lit. As soon as the doors closed behind them, the storm became stiflingly silent, amplifying the hum of the hovering units and Angelina’s footsteps. They passed through a pair of double doors into a hall washed bright with fluorescents, the white walls on either sides lined with dull, silver doors that reflected off the black tile floors. Nos toned his sensors down, blocking out the tide of electrical signatures to focus on Two. There were very few visitors at this time of night, but along with the staff passing through the halls, they cleared out of the gurney’s way. Hermes led them through a few more sets of doors, taking a couple twists and turns leading deeper into the robotics complex before they came to the intensive repair unit. Though it was the least populated area in the hospital, the air felt thick and heavy to Nos, even with his sensors as dull as he could make them. 

The Energy Vampire grimaced and steeled his nerves. Oh, how he _hated_ hospitals.

Finally, Angelina opened a door leading into a private room. The lighting was softer than the fluorescents in the halls, illuminating a setup of machines and monitors against the wall to their right, a row of wooden cabinets and black-topped counters to their left, a window covered by dark curtains across from the door, an armchair in the corner, and the nano-treatment chamber protruding into the center of the room.

A technician was already there preparing the chamber, a shallow, horizontal sort of metal bed with a hinged glass hood. While Angelina started turning on the monitoring equipment, Hermes lifted Two from the gurney with his suspension beam and lowered her into the chamber. The technician activated a panel on the wall, and several robotic arms descended from the ceiling, pulling the soaked sheet from Two’s middle and tearing it away where it was trapped under her arms. One of the arms typed a code into Two’s chest, opening her bio-status containment chamber.

The technician and Angelina plugged wires into ports in Two’s chest and stuck other wireless sensors all over her casing before they closed the lid of the treatment chamber. It sealed itself with an air-tight hiss, and Nos hovered forward to put his hand on the glass before it began to fill. With her head and arms tucked into her body, Two looked so small ‒ it didn’t help that the chamber was built to accommodate robots even larger than her, but it tore at Nos’s core all the same. His fingers tensed as the silver fluid flowed into the chamber, slowly rising around Two’s body. The opaque, pearly liquid clung to her metal as it climbed over her surface; Nos-4-a2 watched her half-shattered visor as the mixture swallowed her whole. He drew a slow breath into his ventilation system to cool his processors and compose himself.

“Sir... are you alright?” Hermes asked.

Nos gave a curt nod. “I’ll be fine. Just let me know as soon as you hear from Dr. Darickson.”

The technician put their hand on Nos’s shoulder, and he looked at them for the first time. They wore the same scrubs as Angelina and a bandana to keep their greased hair back, showing their blue eyes in sharp contrast to their olive skin. “I’m in charge of correspondence with the doctor, so I’ll make sure you’re the first to know, alright? My name’s Morgan.”

“...Thank you,” Nos nodded.

“Morgan will take care of you tonight. If you need something when they’re not around, use this,” Angelina handed Nos a small remote.

He took it and nodded again.

Angelina hesitated. As much as she tried to read the Energy Vampire’s expression, she knew so little about what was really going on that it was hard to tell what he was thinking. Creases ran deep around his expressive optic, his red lenses were clouded, but he stared at the chamber as if he could still see his wife.

Regardless, Angelina couldn’t bring herself to leave without saying something. “Nos-4-a2,” she started, “EVE Probes are very strong. The nanobots are going to have her completely repaired by the time Dr. Darickson arrives, but even now, all of her readings are stable. She’s safe. Is there anything we can do to help you get some rest?”

Nos forced a small smile. “...She is strong. I appreciate it, but I don’t need any rest.”

“Darickson told me you might say that,” Morgan smirked, “He also told me to fit you with a restraining boot if you didn’t agree to spend some time in sleep mode.”

Nos gave them a deadpan look.

“Okay, in all seriousness, he did say that the only thing you need right now is to charge up and give your processors a break,” Morgan amended, “I couldn’t know less about Energy Vampires, but ‘going feral’ doesn’t sound like something that’s easy on your systems.”

Nos’s shoulders sagged lower as he sighed, feeling the weight of his frame. “Fair enough. I’m not going to leave Eve.”

“You don’t have to,” Morgan scooted the armchair in the corner up to the side of the nanotherapy chamber. “We can even wheel in a cot if you’d like.”

“Oh... thank you, but this will be fine,” Nos mumbled.

Hermes’s screen flashed from blue to red. “Angelina, we’re being called back out.”

“Right, let’s go. We’ll try to visit you again after Two’s back online, but if we can’t, we wish you both the best.”

“Of course. Thank you for everything.”

Angelina jogged out after Hermes, leaving Nos alone with Morgan. The Energy Vampire sat heavily in the armchair and put his forehead in his hand, trying to rub his headache away. How long had his head hurt? He tried to remember the last time it didn’t, but it must have been before he woke up after turning Two. Maybe he _could_ use some time offline...

As if they read his mind, Morgan handed Nos a heavy-duty power cell, which he gratefully accepted. He sank his fangs into it without a word.

“...So, um, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but...”

Nos glanced over, drinking deeply from the cell. _Here we go._

“Earlier, when I spoke to Dr. Darickson, he sort of filled me in on your situation, but when he said ‘Energy Vampire,’ I wasn’t expecting... I mean, you’re like... _actually_ a vampire?”

Nos took his time finishing the battery pack before lowering it from his mouth, running his tongue over his fangs, giving off static sparks. He didn’t look at Morgan. “Novel, isn’t it?”

“N-No, no! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean ‒ ”

“It’s fine.” Nos grumbled. He got up to throw the battery case into an electronic waste bin, letting it fall from his hand with a thud.

“No, really, forget I said anything. Do you... do you need another power cell?” Morgan stammered.

“Consider it forgotten,” Nos sighed, “and no, that was plenty.”

“Alright. So, um... if you do want anything later, that remote’ll send a message to this communicator on my belt. I’ll be in here right away if any of Two’s monitors start picking up any strange readings, too,” Morgan explained, “but I’ll leave you to rest for now. Don’t worry ‒ if I get any news from Dr. Darickson at all, I won’t hesitate to wake you up and let you know.”

“...Thank you. That is a weight off my mind,” Nos admitted as he sat back down, rubbing his head again. The power helped, but it was no panacea.

With that, Morgan bid him good night, and Nos watched them leave the room after dimming the lights. The Energy Vampire sank into his chair. He was alone.

At least, he was the only one awake. He touched his hand to the glass again, watching the mixture of nanobots swirl in viscous currents. He couldn’t bring himself to relax... no matter what they said about how stable Two was, he wouldn’t feel better until he saw her online and well. Not that everything would be solved as soon as she woke up... everything was going to change. He’d have to teach her how to use all of her new software, how to control her sensors, how to fly with wings...

He hadn’t even thought about her wings yet. What would they be like? His headache started to come back full force, so he stopped picturing it and unbuckled his cape. He was still wearing his thick cloak from when he went out to search for Two, and the heat wasn’t helping his state of mind.

Still, even if Two was totally fine after the dust settled, what would the Earthclasses think?

Nos-4-a2’s optic opened as wide as it could. _The Earthclasses._ How had he not thought of them yet? He scrambled to search the pockets of his cloak for his handheld communicator, flipping through his contacts until he stopped on a picture of Wall.E, Probe One, and Willow. He froze with his thumb hovering over the call button.

What good would it do to give them this news at two o’clock in the morning? Wasn’t tomorrow a school day? Willow was only 13, and besides, it wasn’t like they’d be able to come up through the storm. Even if they could, what on Earth was he supposed to say? _“You know Eve Two? Yeah, she almost died so I turned her into a monster. She’s still comatose, so no news yet! See you Tuesday!”_

After a solid minute staring at the screen, Nos turned it off and put it away. He closed his optic and leaned forward to rest his head against the nanotherapy chamber. What he wouldn’t give to talk to his Eve... she was the only one he could think of who could sort through such a mess.

“You’re going to be alright...” he whispered. “I promise, some day, we’re going to look back on this disaster and laugh.”

~~~

_He opened his optic to find Two curled up in his arms. That always brought a smile to his face._

_“My Eve...” he purred. Her eyeforms turned into a pair of happy crescents, the most riveting shade of blue he’d ever seen, a smile that made his core do somersaults. He pressed his lips to her forehead, the flawless, glossy finish of the bullet-proof coating over her metal. There was no way he deserved a woman as perfect as Two._

_“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you,” he whispered. He let his lips wander over her visor, placing soft kisses wherever he could reach. She tilted her head back, allowing him to nuzzle the pale lights dancing beneath the surface of her metal. His hands started to roam over her sides, tracing her sleek contours with relish. He could feel the thrills running through her wires, making the back of his neck tingle. Every curve of her frame fit smoothly into his textured palms, his searching fingers, his curious lips._

_She sighed when his kisses trailed down her chest. Her hands slipped over his shoulders and he arched his back, doing whatever he could to feel as much of her as possible. He wanted to worship her every day for the rest of their lives, to let her know how much he loved her, to give her everything she could ever want or need. He pressed a final kiss to the center of the doors over her containment chamber._

_“Nos,” she cooed._

_He lifted his head, but when he looked at her visor, her right eyeform was hardly visible through a spiderweb of cracks. Her surface was scuffed and chipped, her expression flickering and contorted. Freezing wind started to whip around them, throwing snow and sleet in every direction. He looked back down at the fissure in her side, the fluid from her battery oozing onto his left arm._

_“Nos,” Two’s voice cracked with static, “Nos, help!”_

~~~

Nos-4-a2 woke with a start, sitting up straight in the chair next to Two’s nanotherapy chamber. He panted, his ventilation system cooling him down as the memories flooded back. He didn’t remember falling into sleep mode. A shaky breath of warm air escaped him as he sat back, resting his head against the chair so he stared at the ceiling. He could feel Two’s signal buried under all the nanobots, stronger than before ‒ different than before. The venom was already changing her. Nos wiped the trail of oil from under his optic and took a final, steadying breath.

That was enough sleep mode for the night.

He lifted his head once he cooled off and took his hand-held out again, checking the time. It had only been a few hours. The storm still rumbled outside, but the sun would be rising soon in Axiom. He would bide his time until noon.

Then he would call the Earthclasses.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Nos turned his mobile over in his hands. In the time that had passed, Morgan had checked on Two a few times. All seemed well. Her head was repaired, her battery had been sealed, her outer casing was coming together, and the structure of her wings was taking shape. Nos was happy to know that the venom worked well with the nanobots, but at the same time... he couldn’t bring himself to think about the fact that she had wings.

The clock ticked on, but the midday sun did nothing to penetrate the storm. Nos opened the Earthclasses’ contact on his phone. Morgan wouldn’t be back for another hour or so. If there would ever be a good time to make the call, it had come upon him.

Nos-4-a2 hit call, holding the communicator in his lap, making sure that the camera was deactivated. It would be hard enough to hear their reactions without seeing them.

After a couple tones, the line connected.

“Hello?” Wall.E answered.

“Wall.E, good morning...” Nos rasped. He should have tested his speakers before he called. “Is One around? I need to talk to you.”

“I’ll get her. Everything alright?”

Nos had practiced what he wanted to say for the last couple hours, but he hadn’t prepared to answer a question, even such a simple one. The words seemed to tumble from his mouth. “No, actually, we’re... er, in the hospital.”

A few seconds of silence passed before Wall.E responded. “Be right back.”

Nos stared at the nanobots through the glass while he waited, right where he imagined Two’s visor might be. He tried using his last few moments to find a nice way to word the news, but his mind was blank.

Even if he could think, it wasn’t long before One’s voice shot out of his communicator. “Nos-4-a2! Are you okay? Is Two? Where are you?”

“Evah, let him talk.”

Nos smiled a little. As worried as he’d been, it was nice to hear from them. “I’m fine, Two should be in time, and we’re at the Wesley North Robotics Center. I’m sure you’ve heard about the blizzard?”

“It’s been on the news all day! With everyone who flocked up there to see the white snow, there have been awful numbers of injuries and deaths, I had a horrible feeling the second I heard about it... but Two... what happened?” One’s voice became thin.

“She’s going to live, but the way things are right now, it’s difficult to know whether she’ll be the same when she wakes up.”

“What do you mean?” Wall.E asked.

Nos did his best to explain everything that had happened. They didn’t interrupt him as he recounted the events from when Two first left their hotel room to the status of her repairs earlier that morning. He took so long that he had to check the timer on his mobile a few times to make sure they hadn’t been disconnected.

“So... if the repairs are going well... what are you so worried about?” One asked when he’d finished.

“...I don’t know. That’s part of my concern. Any number of little things could have gone wrong. We weren’t ready to try turning a robot yet, and even my best efforts could hardly amount to much in so little time.”

“No matter what happens, I hope you aren’t blaming yourself,” Wall.E spoke, “You did all you could. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”

“Are you sure? I can keep you updated, transit must be utter chaos right now, and on such short notice...”

“Nos-4-a2, of course we’re coming!” One interrupted him, exasperated.

He smiled in spite of himself. “You’re right. Thanks.”

“Keep us posted.”

“Of course.”

Nos-4-a2 hung up, letting out a shaky sigh and sinking low into his armchair.


End file.
